Month: April 2011

It’s hard to believe that Easter is over, it seems just yesterday I was thinking, it’s going to be a while before Easter and here we are, almost in May.  What a precious holiday it is.  Somehow Easter is represented by bunnies and eggs, when it’s truly about Christ paying the price for our selfishness, cruelty, ungratefulness and the list can go on.  He paid for all the sins with His blood so we can have eternal life and oh how we take it for granted.  I thank my God every day for letting Himself be known to me and for sending his One and Only Son to die for my daily sins.
Our Easter morning started off with church celebration at Arco Arena, where over 20,000 people gathered to praise the One and Only!  I was a bit hesitant in the beginning about going to Arco to celebrate Easter, knowing that it was going to be a big event and I was thinking I needed something more private, but I was wrong, as I left joyous and content and couldn’t have asked for a better Easter service.   It was absolutely breath taking.  You can see a few photos below.
After the service we all went to my parents house and by “all” I mean, my dad, Robert, Oleg, Dima, Barry and I.  My mom and Lois stayed with Bella at home.  We had a wonderful family time with some egg hunting of course and lots and lots of candy.  The praise goes to Jesus Christ!

Since Easter is coming up, I decided to bake something different than I usually do and what I came up with were the cookies from my childhood.  Our mamysya made these for Oleg and I when we were little and we just loved them.  I had a special baking form brought from Ukraine and spent good 2 hours making these, but very worth it.  The filling is a cooked condensed milk with a hint of nutella and pecans.  They are definitely a hit and I will be making another batch for Easter Sunday.

Somehow, I have managed to go to Napa two weekends in a row- definitely something I have not done before, but I can easily say I enjoyed it to the fullest.  Each trip was very different as one of them happened with Bella and one without.  At first it was a spontaneous idea which turned into reality, we even had Dima join us and the following weekend was somewhat planned and I went with my parents.  Some of the things we enjoy about Napa valley is the beauty, bakeries, little boutique shops, wine tasting, picnics and simply a good time.  Going with a toddler is not necessary relaxing but it was fun sharing the things we love to do with Bella, we are sure she loved the trip 🙂  The following weekend ended up somewhat of a vacation for me, Bella stayed home with daddy and I left for the day to enjoy my parent’s company.  Before we had Bella, we often took little trips to simply spend time talking, laughing and  catching up.  Now days, trips like these come about once a year, so I treasure them dearly and this one was definitely one to treasure.  I had a wonderful time re-connecting while having a picnic, taking pictures, driving around and going to the outlets on the way back.  I couldn’t ask for a better day 🙂

I can’t believe Ezra is one, it seems only yesterday we got a text message, that Ezra was born after a very challenging labor.  We praised God that everything went well enough that everyone made it and recovered quickly.  Today, Ezra is a huge blessing to his parents, crawling around and smiling from time to time.  He is a very precious boy and I know that God has amazing future in store for him.  Barry and I were happy to attend Ezra’s first birthday party, it was sad that our princess was sick with cold so she stayed with my parents to whom we are very grateful!  Here are a few words to describe the party:  home made delicious pizza, delicious and beautiful ducky cakes, pretty decor, great family, games, fun and of course presents.  If you did not have a chance to come to the party, please enjoy a few pictures below, I only ended up shooting a little over 200 of them 😉  HAPPY BIRTHDAY EZRA!